Case Number 02982

BABYLON 5: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON

The Charge

"I really ought to watch this show." -- Jerry Doyle

Opening Statement

January, 2259. Babylon 5 is in turmoil. Commander Sinclair (Michael O'Hare)
has been recalled and taken up a new position as ambassador to Minbar. Security
Chief Michael Garibaldi (Jerry Doyle) is still in a coma; Minbari ambassador
Delenn (Mira Furlan) is still in a cocoon. G'Kar (Andreas Katsulas), ambassador
of the Narn Regime, scours the Galactic Rim in search of dark legends, while his
hated adversary, Centauri ambassador Londo Mollari (Peter Jurasik) tries to keep
his sinister new allies a secret. And Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova (Claudia
Christian) tries to keep the station from tearing itself apart in the power
vacuum.

A shadow is about to fall on Earth's last, best hope for peace.

The Evidence

Note: The following discussion of Season 2 contains some spoilers for the
season as part of the analysis, although revelations about future events in the
series are kept to a minimum.

The second season of J. Michael Straczynski's space opera Babylon 5
would be its true litmus test. Any show might be forgiven a lot in its first
season, as the cast sorts out their characters, as the plot starts to take
shape. While JMS promised great things from his five-year story arc, Season 1
seemed disconnected at best. Was that seemingly important scene we just saw a
clue, or just arbitrary? Is that character important, or somebody we will never
see again? If Season 1 was the "introduction" to a five-part novel, as
JMS insisted it was, it often seemed to go in too many different directions to
give the audience a sense that there was a real structure at work. But by the
end of the season, things started to shape up. The actors improved; the crucial
plot threads began to stand out.

And then suddenly, it was all thrown up in the air. The cliffhanger of
Season 1 turned out to be more perilous than originally intended. With the
departure of series lead Michael O'Hare, Straczynski faced the real possibility
that the entire arc might collapse in confusion. Worse, he chose to bring aboard
what most casual observers considered a fairly lightweight actor as lead: Bruce
Boxleitner, who grinned his way through the less-than-epic Scarecrow and Mrs.
King.

So everyone narrowed his or her eyes at "Points of Departure," in
which cheerful orange juice junkie John Sheridan takes over the station, as a
rogue Minbari warship comes looking for trouble. Sure, Boxleitner was a welcome
and relaxed addition to the cast, but did he have the necessary gravitas for the
war ahead? It would take a few more episodes to find out.
"Revelations" was mostly a way to shake out various subplots from last
season. "The Geometry of Shadows" only gave hints of the coming crisis
through the presence of the mysterious techno-mages (whom I never felt really
worked in the series, even when JMS brought one into the short-lived
Crusade), led by the always imposing Michael Ansara. Oddly, the b-plot in
"Geometry of Shadows," which seemed like mere comedy relief (the
dimwitted Drazi fight over green and purple sashes) at the time, now resonates
as a microcosm of the coming war, in that Straczynski may be suggesting how
arbitrary the sides really are -- although that will not become apparent until
Season 4.

By the mid-point of the season, and certainly by Sheridan's solo adventure
in "All Alone in the Night" (he gets kidnapped by naughty, probe-happy
aliens), Boxleitner proved he could shift gears from grinning boy scout to angry
avenger. Later, Sheridan would evolve even further as a character, growing into
a true hero, even as the purple-clad clown Londo Mollari transformed during
Season 2 into a dark monster.

Season 2 was not without its duds, usually the episodes that did not come
from the pen of JMS. In "A Distant Star," Russ Tamblyn is a deep space
explorer lost in hyperspace. "The Long Dark" is a warmed-over Star
Trek plot (sleeper ship houses a monster) amusing only due to Dwight
Schultz, who plays, well, the same funny psycho he always plays (as opposed to
Brad Dourif, who will later show up to play the same creepy psycho he
always plays). "GROPOS" features every military training movie
cliché you can think of -- the cocky veteran and the nervous recruit, the
gruff but stubborn commander, the bar fight -- buoyed only by a surefooted Paul
Winfield as Dr. Franklin's father. Only Peter David turns in standout episodes
from the non-JMS pack. "Soul Mates" is an amusing diversion revolving
around Londo's three wives (in a little riff on King Lear's "which
one of you loves me the most" routine) and Talia's seedy ex-husband. Plus,
Delenn has hormonal trouble. "There All Honor Lies" spotlights yet
another humdrum "character is framed for a crime" plot, but succeeds
due to strong parts for sidekicks Lennier (Bill Mumy) and Vir (Stephen Furst)
and a cute subplot about merchandising the B5 universe. Look for the jab
at the show's competing "Deep Space Franchise."

Of course, Babylon 5 was on the ball when it could turn Trek plots on
their heads, like in "Confessions and Lamentations," where a fatal
disease (yet another AIDS metaphor) does not get cured by the clever doctor at
the end, or "Knives," where the usual alien possession plot seems
rather more ambiguous.

Curiously, "Knives," in which Sheridan hallucinates the death of
his wife Anna, seems to come naturally before the crucial "In the Shadow of
Z'Ha'Dum," even though the two episodes are included here in the order
originally run (that is, backwards). Here in "Z'Ha'Dum," we see the
plot threads start to come together: Sheridan's backstory connects to the
Mephistophelean Mr. Morden (Ed Wasser), whose grip on Londo tightens by the
moment. From this point on, nearly every episode would be tied directly to the
various extended subplots -- all written entirely by Straczynski himself (until
Neil Gaiman penned an episode in Season 5).

Of course, this brings to light one of the weakest aspects of the show's
second season: its wealth of dead-ends. Straczynski has always likened the
structure of Babylon 5 to a novel. In his introduction to this six-disc
set, he refers to the second season as the "rising action," following
the traditional narratological model. But a novel is usually a one-writer
enterprise, and narrative red herrings can be easily dealt with (assuming the
writer is competent). Series television is a group project. Although Straczynski
had a great deal of control over the series -- including writing most of the
episodes himself -- the dynamics of a large scale project with so many
people...well, sometimes things did not work out as originally planned. To cover
himself, JMS worked from an outline, prepared to change the story as need be to
accommodate sudden changes. These "backdoors" had already allowed him
to drop three major characters (Dr. Kyle, Lt. Commander Takashima, and telepath
Lyta Alexander) between the pilot film and Season 1, transferring their
character arcs to others.

The first make-or-break test of the "backdoor" strategy was the
replacement of the series' leading man. As already noted, Jeffrey Sinclair moved
offstage to complete his arc, making only a cameo in the second season and
leaving the hero role to John Sheridan. The suits at Warner Brothers also
insisted on JMS adding a hotshot starfury pilot to the show. Lt. Warren Keffer
(Robert Rusler) took up space for a few episodes, until Straczynski could find
an appropriate way to kill him off. Of course, the less said about Na'Toth,
G'Kar's assistant, the better. Replaced in Season 2 by a different actress (Mary
Kay Adams), she only appeared a couple of times before vanishing without
explanation until a brief appearance in Season 5. But characters (and their
performers) were not the only cause of narrative glitches. Looking for a way to
make Sheridan more complex early on, Straczynski made his new hero a member of a
secret government conspiracy ("Hunter, Prey"), not to be confused with
another secret government conspiracy called "Bureau 13" that shows up
in a single episode ("Spider in the Web") and never gets mentioned
again.

But the most problematic loose end in Season 2 involves the departure of
series regular Andrea Thompson. Although the story was grooming telepath Talia
Winters for a major part down the road, Thompson was dissatisfied with her lack
of screen time in Season 2. Her marriage to Jerry Doyle was apparently no
hindrance to her desire for advancement. "Divided Loyalties" contrives
to dump Talia from the story, giving Thompson room to join the enemy, that is,
NYPD Blue. Later, she would join the real shadow empire as a newsreader
for CNN. Talia's enhanced psi abilities and growing suspicions about Psi Corps
would be handed off to the most unlikely of replacements: Patricia Tallman as
Lyta Alexander, the very person Thompson replaced after the pilot. Lyta would
not pick up one part of Talia's arc however: her bisexual relationship with
Susan Ivanova, which the show all but spells out. Unfortunately, Talia's
departure, which could have opened the door to another fine villain later on,
became another narrative dead end.

No matter, the show had plenty of excellent villains during the second
season to keep our heroes busy. The smarmy Mr. Morden, who always seemed like
the most evil car salesman in the galaxy, lured Londo Mollari deeper into his
web. Londo, touched by the Shadows, became more sinister himself, even starting
to wear more black (from "Acts of Sacrifice" on) to reflect his inner
corruption. His loss of control would only be hastened by the political
machinations of Lord Refa (William Forward), his supposed Centauri
co-conspirator.

As the Shadows grew in power, Earth turned progressively fascistic under the
watchful eye of the Ministry of Peace and its Nightwatch flunkies. Earth's
political problems would explode in Season 3 with almost as much force as the
Shadow War. And certainly, you cannot count out one of the best villains in the
history of science fiction television, psi cop Alfred Bester (Walter Koenig).
Although his first appearance during Season 1 made only a small impression, he
breaks out in "A Race Through Dark Places" as our heroes' most
dangerous adversary, here tracking an "underground railroad" for
telepaths. Psi Corps would even get a cute "commercial" during the
clever parody "And Now for a Word," a 48 Hours riff which
Straczynski would pen a heavy-handed sequel to later in the series.

The most important subplot of Season 2 finally reaches its full form by the
ninth episode, "The Coming of Shadows," after which JMS titled the
entire season. Babylon 5 has always risen above its science fiction
television kin by virtue of its serious approach to politics. "The Coming
of Shadows," which deservedly snared Babylon 5 its first of two
back-to-back Hugos, is justifiably included in Straczynski's own book on
screenwriting. The dialogue crackles in a way that is, as Lord Refa says,
"fiery but dignified, elegant but strong." The theme here, one of the
key themes of the entire series, is free will. Can the Centauri emperor,
visiting Babylon 5 as his health rapidly fails him, choose to change the bloody
course of his people, or are the forces of history arrayed against him? Can
G'Kar turn away from his own self-destruction? Is Sheridan really "part of
something bigger," and how much control does he have over his own part in
the coming crisis? And Londo, the most tragic figure in the series? He states
openly that he "has no choice," dreaming of his own shameful destiny
-- and this only leads him to make the most dreadful choices of all.

The brutal war between the Narn and Centauri would take up much of the rest
of Season 2, climaxing in "The Long Twilight Struggle." Londo's
shattered expression as he watches the final savage assault on Narn is perhaps
the single most moving image in the entire series, and in this episode, as
throughout the entire show, Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas show why they are
listed in each week's credits as featured performers. The fall of Narn, however,
would only be the beginning of the real trouble. The final two episodes of the
season are warnings of things to come. In "Comes the Inquisitor,"
utility alien actor Wayne Alexander gets to work without prosthetics as a human
agent of the Vorlons, giving us our first suspicions that these mysterious
beings may not be harbingers of candy and teddy bears, but "a universe of
majesty and terror that you could never imagine." In "The Fall of
Night," all the major subplots for the next season are laid out: Centauri
aggression threatens the station while Earth talks appeasement, the Ministry of
Peace tightens its grip, and Kosh reveals at least one secret about the Vorlons
-- and everyone gets the entirely wrong impression.

Like the Season 1 set, Warner Brothers has packaged Season 2 of Babylon
5 on six discs with a modest amount of extra material. While I was probably
too lenient about the transfer on the Season 1 set, I am becoming increasingly
disenchanted with Warner Brothers. Some footage in several episodes is
unnecessarily grainy (probably due to the low budget production), special
effects shots are often badly mastered, and the crucial "The Coming of
Shadows" is even full of scratches. Yes, this is low-budget television show
that had to economize to stay on the air, but the condition of some of this
material is clearly not the fault of the original source.

As far as the supplements are concerned: the whole affair is introduced by
J. Michael Straczynski and company on Disc One. Notice that Claudia Christian
and Andrea Thompson both show up for interviews quite cheerfully, suggesting
that there has been some reconciliation since both were dropped from the series.
JMS offers two commentary tracks, for "In the Shadow of Z'Ha'Dum" and
"The Fall of Night," both pretty straightforward. He does not have
much backstage gossip, since he admits he spent much of the time in his office
pounding out scripts. He does talk a bit about the cast changes -- why Andrea
Thompson left, how Jeff Conaway (as security officer Zack Allen) ended up on the
show -- but mostly he discusses points of story structure and theme. Much
livelier is the commentary track for "The Geometry of Shadows,"
featuring Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian, and Jerry Doyle. They tease one
another mercilessly, mock the funny accents of the characters, and generally
have a great time. I would love to hear more group tracks like this in future
seasons.

Disc Six is where Warner Brothers puts the rest of the extras. There are two
featurettes: "Building Babylon," detailing how episodes were planned
out, designed, filmed, and then sent to post-production for the special effects,
and "Shadows and Dreams," in which JMS and cronies talk about their
two Hugo awards. As with the first season set, there is a "Universe of
Babylon 5" text archive, this time hiding one of the notorious
staff-created blooper reels that Straczynski always warned us at conventions not
to buy bootleg.

Closing Statement

Babylon 5 has always been less about what the future might really be
like than how we choose the future we desire. As Straczynski has remarked
repeatedly, this is a show about responsibility and our place in history. As
Emperor Turhan (Turhan Bey) states in "The Coming of Shadows,"
"The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us.
And our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that terrible
in-between." Season 2 is driven by choices and consequences, from John
Sheridan's growing sense that Earth is taking a wrong turn to Londo's Faustian
pact with the Shadows.

While the first season had its weak spots, Season 2 is on a par with any
single season of any of B5's science fiction kin. And with Straczynski
taking over full time writing duties, the next two seasons would steamroller
over every other science fiction show on television, with the biggest battles,
the most riveting drama, and the most interesting and complex characters of any
of its kin. Star Trek may have always run hot and cold from season to
season, but from Season 2 to the end of Season 4, Babylon 5 was red
hot.

The Verdict

Warner Brothers is subjected to the tortures of a Vorlon inquisitor for their
treatment of a landmark in science fiction television. JMS, cast, and crew are
acquitted of all charges.